We use cookies to improve your browsing experience and understand how you use our site. Cookies are small snippets of data stored on your device. By continuing to use our website you agree to the use of our cookies on your device. To learn about our cookies or how to avoid them please visit our cookies notice

A gang that stole goods worth over £7,200 from parked vehicles in just two nights have been sentenced to jail after a car tracker gave away their location, reports dailyecho.co.uk.

It was an audacious plan - stealing CD players, satellite navigation systems and any other items of value from unlocked cars while their owners slept - but that's exactly what Michael Antram and Benjamin Peace from Portsmouth did.

The pair targeted cars in Hedge End near Southampton on September 29 last year. Arriving on foot, the pair spent five hours stealing from 12 vehicles. Two nights later, Antram, Peace and an accomplice, Shane Britton, turned their attention to nearby Chandler's Ford for a repeat performance.

Not satisfied with their hoard, which included an iPad, money and other technological equipment, they decided to steal a Ford Transit van which contained £1,600 worth of tools.

Unbeknownst to the criminals, the van had been fitted with a vehicle tracker, which not only lead the police to the van, which had been abandoned close to Peace's home, but also had kept a record of the gang's activities. It showed that they had driven around Chandler's Ford and whereabouts they had stopped.

The trio, according to hampshire.police.uk, were charged with 10 offences of taking from motor vehicles, four offences of interfering with vehicles, and two counts of theft.

Both Antram and Peace, who between them had 115 previous convictions, pleaded guilty at Southampton Crown Court and were sentenced to two and a half years in prison.